Dramatic increase of white matter

My husband had radiation to his brain for small-cell lung cancer metastisis.  He also had the cyberknife procedure.  He remains cancer free, but is experiencing increasing problems with walking, balance, comprehension, memory and has almost a child-like behavior at times.  Can you explain what is happening?  Is it the thickening itself that is causing his problems or are other problems causing the thickening?  Could this be the beginning of dementia?  These changes are almost as frightening as the cancer itself was.

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Sorry to hear about your husbands situation. He seems to have been affected by the irradiation. Radiation therapy has cerebral atrophy as one of the side effects. If he has received whole brain irradiation, chances of a generalized atrophy are more.

You can consult his neurologist to ask which areas of the brain are affected. A PET (positron emission tomography) scan will be able to demarcate which areas are not functioning well.

Regards